As I pedaled, I peered at the brush along the bike path, hoping to spot some lamb’s quarters. Unfortunately, 14-mph botany isn’t much easier than 55-mph botany. All I could see was alders, fireweed, alders, yarrow, alders, and, oh, did I mention alders? Alder saplings are quite prolific along Dayville Road.
What, you may ask, is lamb’s quarters, and why was I looking for it? I’d be delighted to tell you.
This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking a
class with Janice Schofield, the author of Discovering
Wild Plants. I bought this book when it was first published in 2003 (I
could have sworn it was at least a decade earlier; seems like I’ve had it
forever), and was fascinated by the idea of using local Alaskan plants for food
and medicine. I studied the book and considered my options, but the only thing
I ever ended up making was Balm of Gilead. I made it by cooking cottonwood leaf
buds (very sticky) in lard and
straining the buds out. The balm is very healing and soothing, and smells wonderfully
of spring. I always wanted to make other tinctures and teas for medicinal use,
but we were never sick often enough to warrant the effort. Hah, how that
changed once we had a child in school!
When my friend Wendy told me that the Wrangell Institute for Science and Education (WISE) was offering a class with Janice in Kenny Lake, I leapt at the chance to take it. I am so glad I did.
Lamb’s quarters, wormwood, shepherd’s purse…all plants I’d heard of but had no idea how to identify. Willow, yarrow, bluebell, pineapple weed, dandelion, devil’s club, chickweed…all old friends, after a fashion. In an evening and two jam-packed days, we learned about how to use these local plants and more for food and medicine, all part of the “store outside your door” philosophy.
I can’t even begin to tell you a small portion of what I learned. I need to spend hours reviewing my notes and doing further research in Janice’s book and others to figure out which plants I might want to continue to work with in the future, and how I’m going to do that.
The 20 students in the class were divided into four groups. Each group was assigned a variety of plants to collect for food dishes and teas to share, lotions, oils, balms, and tinctures. Often, we were given great leeway in what we chose to collect: four cups of edible greens, for example.
Did you know pesto doesn’t have to be made with
basil? It was news to me, but you can make a fabulous pesto using lamb’s
quarters, willow (edible types, not medicinal types – taste the leaves; you can
tell the difference), chickweed, and other wild greens. Just use whatever’s
handy and add the wild greens to the usual pesto ingredients like pine nuts,
garlic, and olive oil.
Our group made wonderful gluten-free crackers with chickweed, yarrow, fireweed flowers, and lamb’s quarters in addition to purchased flax and chia seeds, ground almonds, and good salt. We also used bluebell leaves with seasoning to make an alternative to kale chips – fabulous.
After tasting a variety of teas made with cold-water and hot-water infusions and decoctions (boiling the herb in water), I found that I loved cold-water infused spruce tips, kinnikinnick (bearberry), and pineapple weed (wild chamomile) flowers (infused separately, not together). Janice said a cold-water infusion of dandelion flowers (just the yellow part) is lovely. All of these infusions were light and refreshing, and just slightly sweet without any added sugar. I’m eager to try an infusion of fireweed flowers to see how that is. I’ll just add about a 1/3 cup finely chopped flowers to a quart of cold water and let it soak overnight. I think it will be yummy.
We had the opportunity to make any sort of medicinal tincture we wanted, at least anything we could find plants for. I opted to make one with shepherd’s purse, one of those plants I’d heard of but didn’t know how to identify. Turns out it’s a stringy little thing with tiny white flowers, and I’ve seen it everywhere. A tincture made from the above-ground parts chopped finely and soaked in alcohol is supposed to be good for stopping internal and external bleeding. I thought it might be a useful bandage alternative in my glass studio. Yarrow tincture is another alternative, as is a spit poultice made of yarrow leaves Yes, a spit poultice is just what it sounds like.
Heavens, I could go on and on. Tell you what: I have some thoughts inspired by Janice’s presentations that I’ll share with you in other blog posts very soon. As I experiment with making yummy foods and beneficial medicines, I’ll tell you all about it. Sound fair? I’m excited to get started!
Oh, yes, lamb’s quarters. Did you notice how often I mentioned it as an edible green? It seems to be a popular and tasty one, and I’d like to find a local source for it. I didn’t see any while I was out riding my bike, but sometime in the next day or so I’ll go explore my own backyard. I probably have some in the store outside my door.
